re: Hugo
I doubt building a real AI is something that is either easy or compatible with the average human attention span and patience level.
I disagree, it fits in precisely, the tedious, boring, dangerous or nasty work could be simply handed over to an AI and it's e-minions. Long term tasks, those that demand constant, precise monitoring and control would require the same. Not to mention controlling, let’s say a fusion reaction of a spaceship’s real-space drive ... I don’t think I’d want a human in charge of the chaotic barely controlled explosion of a mini-star. In fact I don’t think a human being could control such a thing. The magnetic field manipulations would require nano/pico-second reflexes.
Deep space interstellar probes would benefit from an AI with fuzzy logic, sort of an electronic equivalent of curiosity.
In time, building AI systems would be done by AI systems. Reproduction of a sort.
Which adds to the question, would self-aware AI be a life form? I believe so, which is why the AI's I posit in fiction are treated as a character in their own right.